Machines of the kind cited initially are mused in agriculture, in order to cut stalk-like crop, for example corn plants, from the ground of the field and to conduct them to a forage harvester that carries the machine and in which the plants are chopped and delivered to a self-loading forage box on a trailer. As a rule such machines are provided with a number of mowing and intake arrangements arranged alongside each other that operate independently of rows, these are configured in the form of drums rotating about the vertical axis with recesses distributed about their edges in which the stalks of the plants can be accommodated and mowing disks arranged underneath the drums that are used to cut the stalks of the plants from the ground.
Embodiments are also known with movable conveying chains for the transport of plants. DE 10 2005 004 004 A describes such a machine, that is provided with a total of four chain conveyors, that convey the harvested crop to the center of the machine along their forward sides, from where it is deflected to the rear and conveyed into the intake channel of a forage harvester that carries the machine and moves it across the field.
DE 20 2005 005 700 U1 describes a machine of the kind described initially. The first mowing and intake arrangements adjoining the longitudinal center plane rotate outward with their front sides. The second mowing and intake arrangements that follow to the outside rotate in the opposite direction. In their rear regions the first mowing and intake arrangements transport all the plants taken up by their half of the machine in their rear regions and deliver them to the intake channel of the forage harvester. The third mowing and intake arrangements following in turn to the outside rotate in the same direction as the second mowing and intake arrangements. The plants taken up by the third mowing and intake arrangement are delivered directly to the second mowing and intake arrangement, that is, without any further active conveying devices.
A different machine for the harvesting of stalk-like plants is described by DE 32 26 876 A. In an embodiment four mowing and intake arrangements are provided, of which the first mowing and intake arrangements adjacent to the longitudinal center plane are driven in such a way that they rotate with their forward sides towards the center of the machine and then deliver the harvested crop to the rear into the intake channel of the forage harvester. The second, outer mowing and intake arrangements rotate in the opposite direction to the first mowing and intake arrangements and initially convey the harvested crop along their rear sides, before they deliver it to the first mowing and intake arrangements.
In the case of the machine, according to DE 20 2005 005 700 U1, it is seen as a disadvantage that the plants are subjected to abrupt changes in direction and velocity in the transition region to the second mowing and intake arrangements since they are moved at first to the rear by the third mowing and intake arrangements and then to the front by the second mowing and intake arrangements. This leads to problems with the transfer which the document cited attempts to overcome by costly deflection and guide elements that are intended to support the transfer of the harvested crop functionally.
Since DE 32 26 876 A teaches that the harvested crop is to be guided in the same direction from the front into the intake rolls, anyone skilled in the art would maintain the direction of rotation of the four mowing and intake arrangements described there upon an enlargement of the machine described by DE 32 26 876 A to a larger number of mowing and intake arrangements and add a third mowing and intake arrangement in each case at the outside that, in turn, rotates in the opposite direction to the second mowing and intake arrangement. This would have the disadvantage that the first mowing and intake arrangements (that are immediately adjacent to the longitudinal center plane of the machine) would have to cope with the entire flow of harvested crop of the associated half of the machine at its forward side, this is seen as problematic.